Campus Journal; At Bowdoin, an All-Male Era's Vestige Won't Budge

Published: December 16, 1992

RUNSWICK, Me.—
From its founding in 1794 until only 21 years ago, Bowdoin College, an academically demanding institution nestled along Maine's southwestern coast, was for men only. Today, about 44 percent of its 1,400 students are women.

One tradition from the all-male days that did not end with the advent of coeducation in 1971 was Bowdoin's strong fraternity system. It continued to thrive. But now, nearly 200 years after its founding, Bowdoin has banned all single-sex organizations.

Three fraternities and a sorority, the last holdouts in an otherwise coeducational Greek system, have been ordered to admit the opposite sex or cease to exist by next July 1.

"Bowdoin values freedom of association and nondiscrimination," said the college dean, James E. Ward. "But when these principles come in conflict, as they have here, an institution has to make a choice. We've chosen to emphasize nondiscrimination."

The policy, which inspired student protests last spring, is now accepted here with resignation. Three of the four organizations, including the school's only sorority, have announced plans to disband; only one fraternity -- Delta Kappa Epsilon, known for short as Deke -- is challenging the policy.

"I don't see what is so inherently evil about single-sex organizations," said Joshua Sprague, a Deke. "We drink beer and hang around a group of guys. We don't write white supremacist books or discriminate against blacks, Asians or women."

Mr. Sprague and his fraternity brothers have asked alumni who are former Dekes to withhold contributions to the college in the hope of putting pressure on the administration to reverse the policy. But the college has said the policy is permanent.

The ban was approved by the college's governing board earlier this year, when it became clear that a less stringent policy had failed to eliminate single-sex organizations. That policy required all Bowdoin fraternities to become coeducational or lose recognition as an official college organization.

The fraternity issue was revived when an outsider, a person not affiliated with Bowdoin, bought a house for one of the fraternities and other all-male groups expressed similar intentions.

Referring to the purchase of the house, Dean Ward said, "The concern was that the exception would become the rule."

While the role of the fraternity system is being debated on college campuses around the country, the issue has been especially important at Bowdoin because the fraternities dominated social life on campus before the college became coeducational. Bowdoin graduates say almost every student before 1971 belonged to fraternities.

Many fraternities opened their doors to women soon after they arrived on campus, although few offered them the same opportunities as men. By 1981 half the college's fraternities were coeducational, but few had women in leadership positions. And by 1988, although more houses were coed, little had changed.

"We respect the administration's coeducational goals," said Leslie Morse, president of Alpha Beta Phi, the school's only sorority. "But until that goal is accomplished, we wish we could be here for women."

Alpha Beta Phi, which has 35 members but no house or national affiliation, was formed in 1983 as an alternative to the coed fraternities, Ms. Morse said. While the new policy "is designed to benefit women," she added, "we are the ones who are most hurt by it."

Mr. Sprague contends that he and his fraternity brothers will also be hurt by the ban on single-sex organizations, saying close friendships are often formed in all-male settings. He also questions the school's authority to adopt such a policy, calling it an example of "the growing influence of the politically correct movement on colleges around the country."

"They are trying to control the thoughts and ideas expressed by students by controlling their social environment," Mr. Sprague said. "But fraternities will always exist. Bowdoin's policy isn't going to stop us."